Zinke's Recommendations for Bears Ears

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke (center, black hat) tours Bears Ears National Monument in May 2017

U.S. Department of the Interior, CC BY-SA 2.0

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Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke submitted a report to the White House over the weekend recommending Bears Ears National Monument be shrunk. While there are places there he thinks should be protected by the Antiquities Act, Zinke says the boundaries should be revised. He also suggests congress consider different conservation plans for the area, re-examine wilderness designations, and approve co-management by Native American tribes. Tuesday, we’re talking about what all this means for the future of Bears Ears.

CORRECTION: A previous photo accompanying this web post and included in a promotional email showed U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke touring Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, not Bears Ears National Monument, as the caption claimed.

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Native American tribes have asked the Obama administration to use the Antiquities Act to protect nearly 2 million acres of land in southeastern Utah. It’s a region known as Bears Ears, and it contains more than 100,000 archaeological and sacred sites. Opponents of the proposal—including many high-ranking Utah officials—agree the land needs some kind of protection, but they say a monument’s the wrong way to do it. Monday, we’ll hear from both sides in the debate over the Bears Ears National Monument.

A coalition of five sovereign Native American tribes was instrumental in last year’s declaration of Bears Ears National Monument. Those tribes all lived in the region long before white settlers, and tribal members say they depend on the Bears Ears for food, shelter, healing, and spiritual sustenance. For them, the landscape is alive. It has a heartbeat. It’s a valued member of the family. Tuesday, we'll talk about how Native Americans think about and relate to Bears Ears.

Late last week, Congressman Ryan Zinke of Montana took the job of Secretary of the Department of the Interior. As the administrator of roughly a fifth of America’s land, his influence will be widely felt, especially in the West. But who is he? And where does he stand on important issues like state control of public lands, or on the contentious designation of national monuments? Utah Congressman Rob Bishop will be among our guests Wednesday as we examine Zinke’s appointment and what it means for Utah.